Equinox Ceremony prepares for Aries-Libra Full Moon Lunar Eclipse, March 26, 2016

My favorite astrologer writes: "... Libra is concerned with relationships, usually one on one.  The Aries/Libra axis presents a question or a quandary, or a challenge, ME vs WE. How’s the balance in your life?..." 

I'm preparing for ceremony in a couple hours; I wrote about it, and have just returned from a preliminary scouting to make sure the public access where we get to the water is 'okay' for me. The juggling act that is my life means I prepare for allergies and sensitivities as much as possible, but, this is life, and sometimes preparing isn't enough. Stuff happens. Let's get to the scouting: I told my husband I was going down to the beach to see whether the large Scotch Broom (which I am very allergic to) is in bloom. If it is I would need to make other plans. Turns out the plant is half-way to be fully blossoming. So I needed to come up with Plan B.

Public Access to the water which surrounds this Island is a big issue. PRIVATE PROPERTY and KEEP OUT signs are prevalent. Them's that have got their land on the waterfront don't want to share the right to enjoy the waters of the Salish Sea. An entitlement thing comes with occupation. I know, I grew up on 'occupied land.'

My Plan B though led me to find a smaller access on the same road. I checked it out. Sure enough on either side of what appears to be Public Access (there are no signs that tell anyone), there is a sign saying this is PRIVATE BEACH. The signs are posted like small fences that run from the public road to the beach. So ... the space between those signs is probably public. Again, there is no sign to say that. It's possible I will be trespassing, but maybe it's an issue of me vs them. In a couple hours we'll see whether there is a problem with walking to the beach from this smaller entrance.

 To the left

But, in the middle and out to the water we walked gently over churned limbs and trunks to a place where we could be part of the publicly accessed water's edge.

And to the right, we read these signs, PRIVATE BEACH NO TRESPASSING

~*~

My reason for posting with the tangent above grows from this:

1. It is this beach that influences many of the medicine stories I write. Written into the dialogue and character development of these short stories I infuse my wishes for continuity, and the evolving backbone of cultural equity. The character "Jacob" is gatekeeper, mo'o and manager of water rights. It is this beach, and the muliwai, the estuary that feeds and is fed by the ocean that inspire the stories.

The issue of public access ties intimately with Native Rights for hunting and gathering; issues that my Ancestors in the Pacific have dealt with and continue to deal with, and the Ancestors of Native Peoples here in the Pacific Northwest dealt with. Chief among those negotiations was the Bolt Decision of 1974. 

When I write the stories, letting them unfurl one 'dose' at a time, I am doing it from a heart that needs to be lubricated with tears and truths that will sustain generations beyond my own. I write for the mythic mo'opuna, the grandchildren who may not know my name. 

2. The ceremony preparing for Spring Equinox and Ka Piko o Wakea begins with asking for what we need to know. We will do that with the chanting of Aunty Edith's E HO MAI. If we listen with our whole bodies we will proceed aided with wisdom 'from above.'

What do I need to know? We chanted, and then waited for answers.

Today our friend, my husband and I learned that we can access the power of respectful ceremony if we give ourselves time at nature's pace. A friendly (and welcoming) woman working in her flowers saw my friend slowly driving, and looking for the new-to-us access. She was there a few minutes before us. "Are you looking for the public access? It's right over there." She pointed across the road. Our friend was welcomed. This set the tone for our ceremony. Mahalo!

When Pete and I arrived, we parked behind our friend's car, and waved to her already walking the beach. We found a space to sit on a large tree truck lodged into the sand. We chanted E HO MAI for ourselves, the three of us asked for what we individually needed to know. We listened to the lapping waves as accompaniment the clouds there to see and hear our asking. They, the clouds were a diverse tribe. The temperature of the air as we began was warm. Warm enough to take our socks and boots off. Blissful!

We walked and considered our ceremony with this time between high tide and low. We walked and noticed. We chatted. We laughed. We looked at our footprints. We noticed the sand, the rocks, the wind, the lapping water and the many pieces and bits of trees formerly growing with roots into Mother Earth, and hair in the Heavens of Wakea.

We began to consider 'getting a new groove' ... letting down, letting go.

 At tide shift the change in temperature came with a cooling wind across the water. Noticeable. Pete looked at the time on his cellphone. 3:00 PM. The tide would start to recede and go to low. We each dug into the bag of salt I had brought. Making a hole in the sand at the water's edge we scooped salt into the hole as we quietly offered the thoughts, beliefs, behavior, whatever we individually wished to let go and recycle with the outgoing tide.

The ceremony was simple. Done with respect, and fun. "Let's do more of this," Pete said. We liked the sound of that suggestion. We all needed this. And now we are home. Dinner has been cooked, and eaten and for dessert there is Marion Berry pie and Vanilla ice cream. Celebration and ceremony should always include good food.

Mahalo Ke Akua e Na Aumakua. We give thanks, and let go of the rest. A new groove!